HP spends hundreds refunding the two early webOS adopters

TouchPad touchdown

At HP we always think about you, but only with the help of Captain Hindsight, according to the latest bizarre turn in shutting down its hardware decision.

As customers went crazy for a cheap tablet in the HP TouchPad, the two early buyers were both left feeling put out. They saw products they shelled out hundreds and hundreds for selling for as little as £89.

Apotheker declared he wanted HP to pull out of attempting innovation and fun, scrapping products and releasing the many remaining TouchPads on the cheap.

Now, the two early adopters, believed to be Leo Apotheker and Carly Fiorina, will have their Compaqs refunded. The compensation will match the price difference between the cut-rate products and their original prices, and applies to the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, as well as the Pre3.

It's a shame for webOS, really, which had a lot of promise and could have been implemented a long time ago to better effect. Either way, HP claims to be fully committed to webOS and the TouchPad, it just has some interesting ideas about how to show it.

At least buyers will be able to enjoy shiny rectangles with very few apps to test the waters on this whole tablet business, before they give up the ghost and just buy an iPad instead.